Schools in city see increase in enrollment

By Michelle Martin

STAFF WRITER

Catholic schools in the city
of Chicago are celebrating
the news that for two years
in a row, enrollment has gone up.
That’s the first time that has happened
since 1965.

It might be too early to say
Catholic schools have turned a
corner, but Catholic schools superintendent
Sister M. Paul Mc-
Caughey is optimistic that efforts
to promote the schools while
keeping them on a sound financial
footing will pay off.

“We think we can do it,” she
said. “We think we can turn it
around. It would be so much fun
to see that across the system.
Large Catholic school systems
haven’t seen that since ’65. But
we’re a good city to have this happen
to.”

The efforts to spread the good
news about Catholic schools,
combined with changing demographics
in the city, are leading to
full classrooms, she said.

“We’re really growing in those
places where young families are
staying in the city, and they’ve
grown to love it and they don’t
want to leave,” Sister Paul said.
“And with the focused scholarship
efforts, we’re holding the line in
the poorer areas.”

Across the entire archdiocese,
enrollment is stabilizing, with a
drop of less than 1 percent this
year. But with 86,502 elementary
school students this year, Catholic
schools have fewer than half the
students they did in 1979-80,
when enrollment was 189,611.

Reviewing themselves

The Office for Catholic Schools
has asked each of its schools to
review where they are in terms of
maintaining academic excellence
and Catholic identity, financial
status and their efforts to attract
and keep new students. Each
school also will be asked to come
up with a plan to move forward in
the next year, although many are
already doing quite well.

“The schools that are doing it
have a strong Catholic culture and
excellent academics,” she said.
“They are engaging parents and
refocusing on getting the ‘good
whispers’ out there.”

One school that has seen such
efforts pay off is St. Therese Chinese
Catholic School in Chinatown,
which principal Phyllis
Cavallone-Jurek said was on the
brink of closure when she came 7
1/2 years ago. Then, the school
opened with 180 students. Now,
with ongoing efforts to strengthen
an already rigorous curriculum
and work spreading the word
about the school across the city, it
has waiting lists at all the lower
grades.

There are 286 students, and
Cavallone-Jurek has started to
consider the possibility of adding
space, although that would be difficult
in its neighborhood.

The school will likely become
even more popular in the next
couple of years, as it proudly flies
its national Blue Ribbon Award
flag for all to see. It’s the first
Blue Ribbon in 20 years for a
school supported by the Big
Shoulders Fund — a local nonprofit
that offers scholarships and
other financial help to schools
where a significant percentage of
the students are low-income.

At St. Therese, all students are
expected to be two years ahead of
grade level in math by the time
they graduate, and all students
study Mandarin Chinese and
Spanish throughout elementary
school. Because of the unique
curriculum, Cavallone-Jurek said,
she has to be careful when admitting
transfer students to the upper
grades.

Getting the word out

The school’s enrollment grew as
Cavallone-Jurek worked with staff
and parents to get the word out
about the school’s strengths — its
academics and its focus on Chinese
culture. A student dance
group performed whenever and
wherever it could, including on
morning TV news shows and at
neighborhood festivals.

“Schools have to look at what
their strengths are,” she said.
“What are the non-negotiables
that make us really special and
unique?”

At St. Hyacinth School in
Logan Square, enrollment jumped
from 119 students last June to 187
students this year. Principal Annmarie Mahay said that what helped most in terms of
marketing was really everything.

“No one thing works,” she said. “Everything we
did brought in a few more kids.”

Perhaps the biggest single change the school made
was opening a second preschool classroom, so that
there are now 40 preschoolers instead of 25. Parents
realize that full-day preschool costs less than daycare,
and that their children get more out of it,
Mahay said.

That follows the pattern for the archdiocese, where
preschool enrollment is up 15 percent.

Families who have transferred older children into
the school are generally coming from three area public
schools, all of which are crowded, Mahay said, so
they appreciate the small classes at St. Hyacinth.
They also were able to get to know the school
through a series of “family fun nights,” when they
could mingle with existing St. Hyacinth families and
teachers while doing activities in the school’s classrooms.

“It gives them the opportunity to take a look at us,”
Mahay said.

The biggest obstacle to families choosing the
school is nearly always the cost of Catholic education,
Mahay said, although breaking it down into 10
monthly payments helps.

Sister Paul said Catholics should continue to push
for more public funding of Catholic schools, whether
in the form of vouchers or tax credits, because that
would make it easier for families to choose Catholic
education, which would be good for the state as well,
she said.

“It saves the state money in the long run,” she said.
“They just don’t see it.”